George Catlin

North American Indian Portfolio
George Catlin, 1844
CATLIN, George (1796-1872). Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. From Drawings and Notes of the Author, made during Eight Years' Travel. London: Geo. Catlin, Egyptian Hall; text printed by C. and J. Adlard, 1844.
"The history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man...”
A very handsome copy of the first edition, first issue: with finely hand-colored plates with printed captions and 20 pages of preliminary text. The second issue had only 12 pages of preliminaries. Catlin himself published the very scarce first colored issue with the plates printed on full sheets of paper, unmounted. Catlin's eight years of travel amongst what he identified as forty-eight different tribes produced this rich record. "The history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian" (preface). Although Catlin planned on producing a series of thematic portfolios reproducing images from his Indian Gallery, the publication overextended his resources and these 25 plates are the only ones which were published in his lifetime.
“Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio is one of the most impressive books of Western Americana, ranking behind only the Bodmer atlas to Maximilian’s travels and the Edward Curtis portfolios in major illustrated works on the West. Catlin had originally hoped to create an even larger work, with four portfolios and a total of one hundred plates, but his financial mismanagement doomed the project and only one portfolio was issued” (Best of the West). Abbey Travel 653; Bennett 22; Best of the West 81; Howes C-243 (“c”); Sabin 11532; Bobins 40; Wagner-Camp 105a:1; William S. Reese, "The Production of Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, 1844-1876," unpublished paper.
Folio (565 x 418mm). Letterpress title-page and nine leaves of text (few light spots to title, a little fingersoiling). 25 fine hand-colored lithographed plates after Catlin, lithographed by Day and Haghe (pale even toning, first six and last four plates with small marginal repairs, pl. 16 with larger marginal repair, few scattered other small repairs to corners or edges, a very pale tidemark visible mostly on versos). Original maroon cloth covers with gilt-lettered title, preserved over modern half morocco gilt to style, original endpapers preserved with binder’s stamp of A. Tarrant (cloth a trifle faded and worn).